Learn vs.Teach

The next installment...
We last checked into academia prior to the start of fall quarter. The break was nice...and we launched right into a new academic year mid-September.
Fifty fresh, new faces rolled into the full-time PN class, and--quite remarkably--49 finished the quarter. Woo-hoo! They are a special group, I think. I really enjoyed watching them dive in & had the privilege of several classes & many campus labs with them. Was all set to start this (winter) quarter with them as they start clinicals in the 'real world' but priorities shifted just before the holidays. The grant fairy flew in with funds for an additional class of LPN-to-RN students--if we launched them in winter quarter. Well, all right!!

So this quarter has been a true yin & yang experience: the part-time RN students are now in their final quarter & doing their preceptorships. It's both exciting & nerve-racking for them--but they're doing well. This group will always hold a special place in my heart, as we started together & have  now traveled six quarters--learning lots on the journey.
Meanwhile, mid-quarter, a fresh group of twenty part-timers arrived on the scene--so we're off & running. With a little of the deer-in-the-headlights phenomenon we're immersed in 'transitions': up to our brain cells with nursing foundations and up to our elbows in refreshing skills in the lab. At the end of this intensive six weeks, they start nursing classes in earnest & begin acute care clinicals. Having both the first & last quarter students overlapping this quarter makes me appreciate how much they grow in such a brief period of time.
I'm almost half way through the tenure process--isn't that amazing?! Tritely stated: time truly does fly when you're having fun! We have a new president arriving on the scene next month, but change is good, right?  Meanwhile the legislature continues to slug it out over a workable budget. I heard a piece on the radio the other day that if the proposed budget goes through, state support for higher education will have decreased by almost 50% since the bottom fell out of the economy. I had to listen to it again to be sure of what I'd heard...  May the force be with us all.
I'm still here, though, enjoying every minute while it lasts!